A Place To Belong
by Craken11
Summary: Zaizen Hikaru was never the perfect child. Until he entered Shitenhouji, will he find a place among these weird people?
1. Chapter 1

**AN: This story is set in high school. I saw that there weren't many Zaizen Hikaru fics so i decided to write one. Enjoy^^**

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He was never the perfect child, always being compared to his older brother, it was suffocating to be at home. His grades were near perfect but it was never good enough for them.

"_That's a fantastic score Hikaru, but back when your brother was your age, he would get a 95 or above for his examinations! Why don't you get your brother to teach you?" _his mother would say.

He wasn't like his older brother, popular, athletic and smart. Sure he was smart but he wasn't the golden child like his brother was. His brother would go and play soccer with his dad but Hikaru would rather stay home and compose or listen to music. Music was his passion though his parents thought it would just be a fade.

"_Music would never get you anywhere my boy! Why don't you try a hand at sports or just continue studying?"_ his dad would yell when he said he wanted to be a musician.

He did however, tried a hand on tennis and liked it. The thrill of scoring a point and the impact of the tennis ball when it hits the racket exhilarated him. His dad was pleased and signed him up for tennis lessons. On some days though, he would skip the lessons and go to the music store. The owner there was nice enough to let him try the instruments. He self-taught himself how to play the piano and guitar and later on, he could even manage to read the musical notes.

His dad wanted him to be like his big brother. His big brother, who was ten years older, had a stable job as a businessman, who still played soccer with his dad and won various tournaments in his free time, who had even started the perfect family. People would regularly approached him and praise him for having such a perfect older brother.

He didn't want to be in his brother's shadow all the time. He didn't want to be the perfect child like his brother was. In middle school, he got piercings, three in his left ear and two in his right. He hung out with the bad crowd but still kept his grades at the top. His parents, needless to say, weren't too pleased with his attitude.

"_Why? Why did he turn out like that? I can't think of a reason why he is so rebellious! I found a packet of cigarettes under his bed this morning! His grades may be okay but why couldn't he be more like his brother? Did we do something wrong dear?" _he had overheard his mother cried out that night to his dad. It hurt, his heart had hurt.

By the time he was about to enter high school, his parents had stopped caring. His dad wouldn't look at him in the eyes any longer and only talked to him when needed. His mother would often stutter when she tried to ask him questions about his daily life. She tried to pretend like she cared but there is a difference between pretending to care and actually caring. They didn't bother to reach out their hands to him anymore.

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He stared at the high school he had chosen. He didn't know much about Shitenhouji High. He had chosen it purely because it was in the neighborhood, but when the principal made his speech, he instantly knew he had made a wrong choice. It was a comedy school where its motto is 'the person who laughs first wins'.

Nevertheless, his first few months in Shitenhouji High were spend in peace. For once his teachers didn't lecture him about his piercings since there was no rule where 'dyed hair and piercings are not allowed'. His classmates never bothered to talk to him because of his looks and he never bothered to talk to them. Every day, he would spend lunch break on the roof. He was mildly surprise to find a sky garden located there at first but the smell the plants gave out, soothes him. He ate at the back of the roof where no one could find him. Occasionally some of the older juvenile delinquent students would ask him to join their group but he didn't spare a second glance towards those kinds of people anymore. He did overhear some of the rumors about him. Bad rumors apparently. He didn't care and turned a deaf ear towards the rumors.

Just like that, the third semester was starting and his time as a freshman was almost ending. Just as he thought that he could have finished high school in peace, those weird people from the tennis club had approached him using all kinds of jokes. It turned out that they were trying to get him to join the tennis club. He didn't have a reason to say no and they must have been in need of people to join the tennis club if they were approaching him of all people.

"Umm you could have just asked me to watch you play tennis instead of this roundabout way."

"Ohhh that's true!"

After that incident, he concluded that they were all idiots.

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He found out that all of them were in their second year and unexpectedly, they were all regulars of the tennis club. Shiraishi Kuranosuke, was the buchou of the tennis club and seemed to be the only sane person in the club. Oshitari Kenya, the bleached haired guy was too cheerful for his taste and the two people who disgusted him most with their lovey-dovey acts were Konjiki Koharu and Hitouji Yuuji. Then there was another person who seemed to have faded into the background, Koishikawa Kenjirou.

He had to wait for the others to get changed into their tennis jerseys while he had to wait out under the hot sun. He did not like the idea of being soaked in sweat especially in his school uniform. After changing, they rallied against one another to show him how cool tennis is. He had to admit, all of them were pretty good.

"Here, do you want to try rallying us Zaizen?" Shiraishi had offered him his racket although it was a bit too big for him.

"Hikaru, call me Hikaru and okay."

"Here, I'll teach you how to hold the racket properly~" said Koharu.

"Um I already know how to senpai."

"Have you played tennis before?" said Shiraishi.

"Once or twice before…probably."

It had been a long time since he played a tennis match and felt his adrenaline rush through his body. He had missed the thrill of a tennis match and the exhilarating feeling with it. Before long, he noticed the sun setting down and opted to stop the match. Shiraishi must have noticed his expression as he called the match to a stop.

"You're a really good player for a newbie. Has it really been only once or twice since you played, because you have the potential to become a regular. Won't you join our team?"

It was the first time that someone had reached out his hand towards him.


	2. Chapter 2

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After joining the tennis club, he managed to secure a place as a regular. He was able to compete in a few matches but was usually put as a reserve player since he was still a freshman and joined the club late. He managed to keep up with the regular's training regime but he still had to follow the freshmen's training regime which included cleaning up after practice had finished and stamina training. There weren't many freshmen who had joined and most of them didn't care so he had to cleaned up alone most of the time.

He doesn't spend lunch break on the roof anymore. The library was a much quieter and cooling place where nobody could disturb him as he sleeps or studies. Bad rumors about him were still being circulated around the school. Shiraishi tried to include him into their team bonding activities but he could feel how the third years really felt about him and declined, very politely at that. It was fine, he doesn't trust any of them and he was already alone in the beginning anyway.

As the third semester ends and the year end examinations around the corner, all club activities have come to a halt and a year was almost gone.

"Oi Hikaru! What are you doing here?" said Shiraishi. It was rare to see both Kenya and Shiraishi at the library. They were always at the cafeteria eating.

"I always spend lunch break here buchou. What are you doing here?"

"Our exams are almost starting so I thought we should study here in the meantime." said Shiraishi.

"I see."

"Don't you have any friends brat?" said Kenya.

"Not really…"

"You're really anti-social aren't you?" said Kenya.

"Shouldn't you be studying senpai?"

"Why you…" said Kenya.

"Kenya! He's right, we should study." said Shiraishi.

The both of them were finally quiet. He decided to plug in his earphones and drown into the beautiful melody of the music he was listening to. After looking at Kenya mulling over a question which wasn't all that hard in the first place, he decided to speak up.

"Senpai, if you use these here you can get the answer."

"You haven't even learned this topic yet, how do I know you're right?" said Kenya.

"Senpai, you could check the answer at the back."

"No way…Shiraishi! He's right, I can't believe it!" said Kenya.

Either he was really smart or Kenya was just plain stupid. The questions were really easy despite being second year's topics.

"Sorry Hikaru, I'm always getting you to teach me." said Kenya.

"It's fine senpai."

"Hikaru, you're actually a nice guy deep inside huh?" said Kenya.

"What are you talking about senpai?"

"Well, if you were really as the rumors say, you wouldn't even have bothered right?" said Kenya.

"…"

"Oi where are you going?" said Kenya.

"Lunch break is ending soon senpai."

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He was on the last lap of his examinations and before he knew it, the fourth semester had ended and the holidays starting. His parents decided to move to Tokyo to live with his brother's family leaving him all alone. The house was even quieter than it already was and it became even more suffocating to be at home. Luckily he had tennis practice to occupy his time.

Now with the third years gone, Shiraishi had begun to place him in doubles with Kenya and occasionally, singles. He never really did play seriously in any of those matches but somehow or other he managed to gain the nickname 'genius'.

As the first semester of the new year starts, they had gained two new regular members, Tooyama Kintarou and Chitose Senri. Kintarou had a really loud voice and was ten times more energetic than Kenya, whom he thought was already too cheerful for his own taste. He rarely talked to Chitose but he was a pretty weird guy, though he was rarely around. Now he was even more convinced that he was the only sane person on the regulars.

After finding out that he always spend lunch break alone in the library, Shiraishi and Kenya had literally dragged him to the cafeteria to eat with them. _"It's not good to skip lunch Hikaru." _Shiraishi, who was apparently a health nut, would say. He doesn't usually eat lunch or breakfast for that matter. He doesn't have much of an appetite and the cafeteria food sucks. He tried it once and instantly disliked it. Even if they dragged him to the cafeteria, they couldn't force feed him.

"Hikaru, you should at least eat something! It's not healthy to skip meals and you wouldn't have enough energy for practice later!" said Shiraishi.

"Buchou, I haven't been eating lunch since I've started school and I'm just fine at practice."

"Please tell me you at least eat breakfast." said Kenya.

"…"

"It's not good to miss out on the most important meal Hikaru." said Kenya.

"Senpai, why would you care?"

"We care because we're your friends!" said Kenya.

_Friends? _They considered him their friend?

"Oi where are you going?" said Kenya.

"Buying lunch."

Just because he felt a bit touched and happy at that sentence, doesn't mean he would just open up to them. But slowly, he could feel his ice wall around his heart melting.

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**AN: Second chapter ^^ sorry for the late update**


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